Kelly Mangan (She/Her) 🏳️‍🌈💖💜💙

So find the form of resistance that works for you, & carries the level of personal risk you’re comfy with. Agree to disagree with activists who don’t share your approach, but are fighting for the same things. And get to work. Infighting over the “right way” to protest is stupid. (6/6)

Some resist through more disruptive tactics, which you might find ugly or distasteful. All these approaches have their strengths & weaknesses.
Just because a protest tactic doesn’t vibe with you doesn’t make it wrong or ineffective. (5/6)

Others resist through tactical frivolity (think inflatable costumes and silly dancing and throwing dildos). Some resist through art and culture (protest art, songs, performance). Some resist through civil disobedience and breaking unjust laws. (4/6)

But movements against oppressive regimes are not monolithic. Nor should they be. Some people resist through all the respectable channels we’re ‘supposed’ to— strongly worded letters, phone calls, permitted marches, and such. (3/6)

It’s very common for new activists to think they can simply talk fascists out of being fascist through logic, appeals to their humanity, and empathy. Which is fine. They will eventually realize that doesn’t work, but there’s no harm in them trying. They have to see for themselves. (2/6)

I see a lot of neighbors & community members who’ve never engaged in activism jumping in now with both feet. That’s great. It’s so very needed. But they are coming to this resistance movement with some very commonly held misconceptions about what are “respectable” tactics for resistance. (1/6)

I had to discourage some well-meaning neighbors from pouring half n half in somebody’s eyes on Wednesday. 😬

The very best thing you can use is distilled water with a tiny bit of baby shampoo diluted in it— squirted directly into the eye with a syringe. But most people don’t carry that around with them, so any purified water will work.

PSA: Do NOT pour milk in the eyes of people who’ve been tear gassed or pepper sprayed.

Chemical irritants can cause small abrasions on the surface of eyes (especially if you rub them). Milk can introduce bacteria that can cause opportunistic infections.

Flush with distilled water.

Burlington PD, South Burlington PD, & VT State Troopers have all said that ICE were the only ones brutalizing protestors. That’s a lie: I saw VT State Troopers not only collaborate with ICE to abduct 3 of our neighbors (without warrants for any of them), but also brutalize peaceful protesters.

EXACTLY. And like I told an ICE agent yesterday, we don’t hate you for who you are, we hate you for the choices you make.

“Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly…. They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.”

~Naomi Shulman

The rest of the staff all seemed chastened by that. But the thing is, I’ve been to the Wannsee House. And the #1 thing they impressed on me was the Nazis didn’t act alone. The regime was held up by the quiet help of Nazi sympathizers.

The same is true for ICE.

A woman I work with came into the back of the bakery, where we were discussing the ICE protest yesterday, to tell us we should be ashamed for hating a whole group of people (ie ICE agents).

Bitch, I just watched a family give up their toddler bc they were afraid she might not survive detention.

Thank you 🙏

ICE agents’ morale is at an all time low. So anything you can do to speed that along is a help. Roast them. Attack their masculinity, their height, their cowardice, their sexual prowess, penis size, their bank accounts, the shame of their kids, whatever. Watch their eyes. You’ll see what lands.

To be clear, dude, we don’t hate you for who you are. We hate you for the choices you make.

Massive ICE & state trooper presence to abduct a single family.

Massive ICE & state trooper presence to abduct a single family.

We left some messages on their cars. Fuck ice.

Border patrol

I just spent my entire day the the rain, with 100 of my closest friends, trying to keep ICE (with help from VT State Troopers, South Burlington PD, & Border Patrol) from abducting our fucking neighbors.

I’m sorry to say, we did not succeed.

Fuck off, fascist scum. We protect our neighbors around here.

Three women marching. The woman in the back is carrying her baby, the woman in the middle is carrying a bowl of bread and a fistful of roses. The woman in front is carrying a sign that says “hearts starve as well as bodes give us bread but give us roses.”

Okay. I’m walking away from it now and calling it done.

Although… I could always tinker some more with—

NO! Bad, artist! Leave it.

Oh my god. I had these when I was a kid. All of them. I haven’t thought about them in… 35 yrs?

Sorry for the deluge of posts, but I've been meaning to share this. It's not just oil held up in the Strait of Hormuz.

Gullible, Cynical America The trouble with believing anything and nothing at the same time

The data economy has made us dumber in ways that also make us vulnerable to authoritarian takover. We are have become both cynical and gullible in the sense we think we are too jaded be fooled and as a result are tricked more easily www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

That’s so fucking unhinged.

Three women marching for bread and roses

“Our lives shall not be sweated
from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies;
give us bread, but give us roses.”

*Define

Echoing what others have said. Definite what success means for you. Set benchmarks / smaller goals for yourself. Come up with a plan for how you intend to tackle your next goal.

Used to be that we saw some improvement from generation to generation. But I genuinely think that a lot of cishet men who are in their 20s now are much worse and MORE misogynistic than they were 20 yrs ago. Or maybe they’re just more honest about it. Who knows. But I blame the red pill grifters.

And toss a grenade over your shoulder when you do.

A black woman in a white Victorian style dress holds a lit match, posed in a classic portrait style. The decorative border around her is made of stylised flames

‘Happy’ International Women’s Day, I guess. Most women I speak to these days are filled with rage, and for good reason. There’s still so much to do, I want better for women and girls 🔥